ting, as they do, _the only reliable
instrumentality for the proper training of the rising generation_. These
labors, which were hailed as promising great usefulness, and which were
prosecuted in every county of the state, were every where received with
unexpected favor, and constitute the foundation of the present volume.
Many of the subjects then discussed are here greatly amplified.

Among the lectures referred to in the resolution under which this work
has been undertaken, was one on the "Michigan School System." But as the
Convention for the revision of the Constitution of this state is now in
session, it has been deemed advisable to omit, in this connection, the
extensive consideration of the details of that system. This may
constitute the theme of a small manual which shall hereafter appear.

In the present volume the author has endeavored so to present the
subject of popular education, which should have reference to the _whole
man_--the body, the mind, and the heart--and so to unfold its nature,
advantages, and claims, as to make it every where acceptable. Nay, more,
he would have a good common education considered as the inalienable
right of every child in the community, and have it placed _first among
the necessaries of life_. For the better accomplishment of his object,
he has freely drawn from the writings of practical educators, his aim
being usefulness rather than originality. This course has been adopted,
in some instances, for the sole purpose of enforcing the sentiments
inculcated by the authority of the names introduced. Acknowledgments
have generally been made in the body of the work. These may have been
unintentionally omitted in some instances, and especially in those
portions of the work which were written several years ago, and the
sources whence information was drawn are now unknown.

An examination of the table of contents, and especially of the index at
the end of the volume, will show the range of subjects considered, and
their adaptation to the wants and _necessities_, I may say, of the
several classes of persons named in the title-page, for whose use it was
undertaken. Written, as it has been, for Parents and Teachers, and for
Young Persons of both sexes, it is what its title implies--a treatise on
Popular Education--and is equally applicable to the wants of families
and schools in every portion of our wide-spread country.

With all its imperfections, of which no one can be more sensible t